1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an imaging device having a hybrid finder and a control method therefor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, imaging devices such as a digital camera having a hybrid finder that has an optical viewfinder (hereinafter referred to as an OVF) mode and an electronic viewfinder (hereinafter referred to as an EVF) mode and that is capable of switching mode between both modes have become known (refer to JP2012-065294A).
The hybrid finder comprises a display section, a finder window, and a half mirror (an optical path combining section). The display section displays a subject image which is obtained by capturing an optical image of a subject through an imaging element. The optical image of the subject is incident onto the finder window. The half mirror transmits and guides a part of the optical image incident onto the finder window to a finder eyepiece section, and reflects and guides apart of a display image, which is displayed by the display section, to the finder eyepiece section. Further, the hybrid finder has a shutter (hereinafter referred to as an OVF shutter) that blocks the optical image which is incident onto the finder window. In the OVF mode, the OVF shutter is opened, the display section is set to a non-display state, and thereby the optical image is guided into the finder eyepiece section. In the EVF mode, the OVF shutter is closed, the display section is set to a display state, and thereby the display image is guided into the finder eyepiece section.
The display section has a subject display area and an information display area. A subject image is displayed in the subject display area. An information image of imaging conditions (a shutter speed, an aperture value, an ISO sensitivity, and the like) is displayed in the information display area. The subject display area is set at the center of the display image. The information display area is set to have a frame shape surrounding the subject display area. In the EVF mode, the hybrid finder displays images in both the subject display area and the information display area. In contrast, in the OVF mode, the subject image in the subject display area is not displayed, the information image in the information display area is displayed, the optical image and the information image are guided into the finder eyepiece section through the optical path combining section, and thereby the information image is displayed by being superimposed upon the optical image.
The display section includes a liquid crystal panel, a liquid crystal display device that has a backlight illuminating the liquid crystal panel with light, and a self-light-emitting display device such as an organic electro luminescence (EL) display.
In the hybrid finder, a part of the display image, which is displayed on the display section, is reflected by the optical path combining section (half mirror), and is guided into the finder eyepiece section, and therefore, a part of the display image is transmitted. As a result, a light amount thereof decreases. Hence, as the display section, it is preferable to use a display section that displays a display image having a large light amount, and it is preferable to use a liquid crystal display device having a larger light amount than a self-light-emitting display device having a smaller light amount.
In the liquid crystal display device, in the OVF mode, an information image is displayed such that a light transmittance of a liquid crystal panel corresponding to the information display area is set as a high transmittance, a subject image not being displayed by blocking light of a backlight such that the light transmittance of the liquid crystal panel corresponding to the subject display area is set as a low transmittance. However, even assuming that the light transmittance of the liquid crystal panel is set as a low transmittance, the light of the backlight is not completely blocked, and the light of the backlight slightly leaks from the subject display area. The light, which leaks out from the subject display area, is guided into the finder eyepiece section through the optical path combining section, and is taken into the optical image.